ATP: Roddick is again King of Queens
London, England (Sports Network) - American Andy Roddick saved a match point and rallied for a three-set victory over unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to capture the Artois Championships at the Queen's Club.
The second-seeded Roddick earned a 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-2) triumph to claim the Wimbledon tuneup event for the fourth time in five years. The former world No. 1 won this crown three straight years from 2003-05, but has still yet to parlay it into a Wimbledon championship.
Roddick was a semifinalist at the All-England Club after his Queens victory in 2003, then reached the Wimbledon final in both 2004 and '05. Last year, he lost in the semifinals at the Queen's Club and only made it as far as the third round at Wimbledon.
Sunday's win allowed Roddick to join John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt as four-time winners at the Queen's Club. The other three have all won on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon.
This year's third Grand Slam event begins a week from Monday.
Mahut, who beat three-time French Open champ and last year's Wimbledon runner- up Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, was in position to pull off another huge upset.
After taking the first set, Mahut was ahead in the tiebreak and had a match point at 7-6, but Roddick stormed back to win the next three points.
The third set also went the distance and Roddick simply dominated the tiebreak. He won the first five points and finally closed out the match with his 24th ace.
Roddick earned a first prize of $107,000 for his first title of 2007. He had just one previous appearance in a final, losing to Tommy Haas in Memphis in February, and was coming off a dreadful clay season that ended with a first- round loss at the French Open.
Mahut, meanwhile, was playing in his first career ATP final. Ranked 106th in the world, he entered this event with a record of just 6-11 in singles play and will now try to qualify for Wimbledon next week.
Roddick improved to 2-0 lifetime against Mahut, also prevailing on carpet two years ago in Lyon.
